E-Malt.com News article: United States: Minnesota barley plantings stable this year due to contracts with maltsters

The 2010 barley planting intentions for Minnesota caught the state's Barley Grower Association executive director Marv Zutz by surprise, Farm & Ranch Guide reported on May, 7.

Zutz was expecting acreage to stay the same or be slightly lower from last year's planting, but the state's growers bucked the national trend and are planning to plant more barley acres this year.

Nationwide, the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) expects the number of acres to be off 8 percent this year to a record low 3.27 million acres. North Dakota, the nation's largest barley producing state, is expected to cut back barley acres by 19 percent to 980,000 acres, a record low for the state.

“The planned acres in Minnesota are up from last year, which caught me by surprise,” Zutz said. “In Minnesota, most of our barley acres are under contract and that is probably what stabilized our plantings for this year.

“The early contracts that went out by the major malting companies were at the highs for the year, in regards to wheat prices. Those producers who took advantage of the early contracts are pretty happy at the present time.”

Growers in the barley producing areas of Minnesota are also happy with the current planting conditions, which Zutz terms as “one of those seasons you tend to remember for a long time.” Farmers have been able to get the barley planted earlier than they have for the past few years, which usually favors good yields and high quality.

Despite the present outlook for another good barley crop, Zutz noted that in a recent conference call he participated in, maltsters are predicting the world stockpile of barley will begin to shrink, due mainly the reduced plantings, not only in the U.S., but also worldwide.

The latest Grain Stocks Report that was issued on March 1 by USDA's NASS indicated the barley stocks in all positions as of March 1, 2010, totaled 157 million bushels, up 22 percent from the same time last year.

The on-farm storage was pegged 52 percent higher than a year ago at 67.4 million bushels and off-farm supplies were estimated at 90.0 million bushels, up 6 percent from a year ago.

The December 2009 through February 2010 disappearance totaled 49.0 million bushels, a 12 percent increase from the same period a year ago.

Don't look for the export markets to help eat up the surplus at this time, according to Zutz.

“The export market for barley can best be described as flat,” he said.

The latest U.S. Grains Council export report for the first half of April backs up his claim. During the first half of April 300 metric tons (14,000) bushels of barley were sold to Canada and an additional 1,400 metric tons (64,000) were in the export pipeline with a Canadian destination.

According to postings by local elevators on the Internet, feed barley prices are in the $1.70 to $1.85 range on the spot cash market. Many elevators are not offering cash bids for malting barley, but for the few that are making an offer, the average price is around $2.10 per bushel.

“The best news for barley growers right now is that an early spring is usually constructive for a good yield and a potential for high quality,” Zutz said.


07 May, 2010